Morris: It’s going to be a wild year for the cannabis industry, all industries for that matter with the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, but I see advantages for the hemp and CBD markets.

Sam Ludwig: We see a movement towards sustainable brands. As the market matures and the consumer base widens, the typical user will be more critical, caring about who, where and how the marijuana items they invest their cash on are produced. Organic, tidy and natural. That is what people want.

We are currently seeing an increased demand for sustainable marijuana. This message is resonating with consumers and we anticipate the pattern to continue. Aster Farms is vertically incorporated, growing our own cannabis, so we can provide absolute transparency to our customers and control quality from seed to sale. This is particularly crucial due to the current vape scare and with a lot of brands sourcing all of their flowers. Likewise, consumers are getting smarter and starting to recognize cannabis is about more than simply THC and CBD. Other lower known cannabinoids, such as CBN and CBG, can aid with things like sleep, relaxation and swelling. In an industry that has actually been largely concentrated on THC effectiveness, our company believe a shift is coming. Complete spectrum, sungrown cannabis, grown in live soil is the best way to express the plants full cannabinoid profile. That’s why we let nature do the work at Aster Farms.

The marijuana market will continue to be strangled by taxes and policies, and by the federal government’s failure to legalize it. On the flip side, there will continue to be wonderful individuals at organizations like Root & Rebound and Last Prisoners Task working hard every day to change things for people affected by the racist War on Drugs.

Katie: There will be more mainstream CBD companies, and combination of the industry to include more vertically incorporated multi-state operators that can hold up against market volatility. Little marijuana business, such as ours, have proven durable in times of crisis since of our little swimming pool of workers, making layoffs unnecessary as we weather the storm of a worldwide pandemic.

Laganga: I think the best pattern we saw come out of the marijuana industry last year was the development of LGBTQAI Pride Month products. While it was great to see a lot support amongst the neighborhood, I question the legitimacy. It’s my expect this year that rather of placing rainbow stickers over existing products, real idea and effort are put into the production. For instance, my cooperation in 2015 with Fruit Slabs not only broadened the brand name’s flavor profiles, however it likewise was offered year around. This is since both Fruit Pieces and I think you need to be #ProudAF constantly, not simply throughout Pride Month.

Danny: A rising trend that we are seeing is an increased demand for craft/connoisseur products. As marijuana, along with the knowledge of what craft cannabis means, becomes more accessible, we have actually seen a growing class of informed consumers.

Andrew: Delivery, drive through, curbside pick-up transactions– federal governments ought to support and encourage this habits. In-store experiences will alter with social distancing, no display screen cases and plexiglass guards all over. Edibles and non-inhaled forms of cannabis will grow in popularity. Usage lounges in legal states will be voluntarily closed down until after the pandemic. Legalization efforts will be stalled in the short-term by coronavirus, but may acquire momentum in the medium term as tax profits drop– it’s hard to object to a cannabis dispensary in your community when there’s no money to fund the school within it. And, the Great Recession opened up medical markets all over California as municipalities appropriately decided they had larger fish to fry than banning weed shops. It’s really tough to predict a future from the current vantage point on the curve of the crisis, however I see these patterns holding till the mid to late summer.